I may be a little bit retarded. So, not really remembering that I had messed with my spam filter settings recently I was kinda wondering why my comments had seemed to drop off. Now I tend to feel most times when I'm talking that I sound incredibly stupid and yet I seem to keep going on and on despite the chanting of 'Shut up Shut up' in my head. When it translates to writing, the first thing I think is I wrote something stupid, and it totally came off wrong. Then on a little blog housekeeping spell I decided to check my junk folder... yeah- tons of super awesome comments! Thanks everyone and sorry for not replying! I feel like a dolt.

On to making stuff...
As you can see above I did some more super easy crafting - record bowls! I <3 how these came out! And so freaking simple, I did them while putting away the dishes people- talk about fool proof. There are lots of tutorials out there for these, I basically used this one from Roxycraft.

Lounging on one of the bowls is one complete Knucks glove for Mr.Pieknits. Gotta keep those gaming fingers warm, I keep suggesting different gamer tags for the embroidery and he keeps insisting he isn't that dorky. I'm working these in the always lovely Elsepeth Lavold Silky Wool. I had a heck of a time finding a yarn in this gauge locally that wasn't a disgustingly pastel baby color, let alone something for a guy. Then I spotted the Silky Wool, love this blue.

Posted by Jen at 05:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Can't get any easier than this, the 15-minute circular needle holder.

Nothing against sewing, I do have plans to make a placemat dpn holder ala the Grumperina method but I like this one for something a little different. Circular needles are inserted through the center holes in craft supply wooden spools and dangle by their cords.

Stuff you need
Wooden spools (mine were Large Barrel, 3/16" x 7/8"; 1/4" hole, 20 pcs from a craft store)
Approx 1 1/2 - 2 yards floral wire (I believe mine was 28 gauge)
Permanent markers (I used a silver paint pen and a sharpie)
Scraps of yarn or fabric
Glue (hot glue gun was weapon of choice for me)

Note on the spools - mine have 1/4" hole which fits up to a US size 10 needle. This was adequate for me, but if you require ones for larger sizes you can drill or use a needle file to enlarge the opening, or look for a larger diameter spool.

What to do with it

First, label all your spools with the appropriate needle size. For my end spools I wound a piece of scrap yarn around the spool and secured it with a dot of glue. A piece of fabric cut to size would also look nice. You could obviously embellish these however you like. I went with simplicity (also known as "easy"). Next cut a length of wire about 1 1/2 - 2 yards long, I just kinda eyeballed it. Thread wire though first spool and hold in half so both lengths of wire are equal. Following the diagram below, weave the wire in and out of each spool.

Then, once the last spool is wired on, twist the remaining two wire lengths around each other and fold into a hook shape. Trim ends and load up with all those unruly needles.

Posted by Jen at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (25)

Things like this and this I find far too amusing.

Swiped from a pair of thrift store pants and the tag line? "Quality never goes out of style." Right.

In other news...
The DFW Fiber Fest 2007 info is up - check it out! I've registered to take Reversible Cables with Lily Chin. Last year I didn't get to take any classes but did attend the fashion/ trunk show on Friday night. If you're in the DFW are come! The show had goodies (I won cashmere even) and awesome treats. Oh, and if you're class registration is post-marked by Jan 31 you get the discounted rate. I'm trying to pimp the local fiber stuffs as Texas is kinda lacking.
Speaking of which, if you haven't already, you should come to a Stitch n Bitch too. I haven't been able to go much lately but wanted to mention it to try to rope in some more people.

I also keep forgetting to mention I'm contributing a pattern prize for the Craftster Knitting Challenge. It's a neat challenge, one stitch pattern was chosen by the moderator and you have to come up with a design using it somehow. Check out the different varieties already up and it's open until the end of the month.

Ok that's all I have.

Posted by Jen at 03:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Lace Leaf Pullover by Teva Durham

Pattern: Lace Leaf Pullover, from Interweave Knits Summer 2005 and Loop-d-loop
Yarn: Knit Picks Sierra in color Bud. I ended up using just a little of the 7th skein.
Needles: Size 10.5 Denise's

Overall, I'm quite happy with this one. My gauge was significantly smaller than the pattern gauge to require a recalculation of the entire pattern. I wanted a loose sweater but it could have been a bit narrower. I think that stems from my gauge loosening up over the long intermittent working of this project. The only other wish is that I had modified the leaf chart to be larger, as I have seen on some others in blogland but I think it still stands sufficiently out. I'm nit picking here however. I love my bright green sweater! (and the sleeves are long, I know but I love way too long sleeves)
I'm also one with the grafting now. As a pleasant surprise, the graft line turned out rather unnoticeable. I'm going to be grafting wherever I can from now one!

Posted by Jen at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (21)

The "Monster Grafting", as I was taken to calling it, is done. I've seen several people say it isn't so bad and it isn't really. I'm just horribly impatient when an item is close to finishing. I want to try it on. I want to see if it'll be all that I hoped. Self-awareness of this problem has helped me to stop ending pieces too short and hating long bind-offs (well as much anyway). The trick, for me, on something like this lengthy kitchenering I learned back when working at a thrift store in school.

When I first started, there was a seasoned employee there, a bit of a character (as most were I came to find) who liked to pass on tips to me. The store use to have these Half Price Saturdays every other month. Now people would always laugh when I'd say this. "Haha! Half price at a Goodwill?! Like, what, 25 cents off?" No, you have no idea. It was insane. People scouted days before, stashing and hiding items of want. Fights, arguments, and craziness ensued. Now the shoppers, contrary to popular belief, were not the downtrodden but the well off middle-upper class suburbanites. Yet they went NUTS. Working the register was exhausting; the lines extended at least 30-40 deep all 10 hours of this hell. I remember walking up to the register my first day and this coworker saying, "Don't look at the end. Just focus on the person in front of you, that’s it. Do not look at the end." This tidbit was continually passed on to new employees at their first Hell Day when faced with The Line and had that deer in the headlights look about them.

The point of this self-indulgent anecdote? I always find myself thinking of that when embarking on a task such as the Lace Leaf grafting. Just doing each step is rather enjoyable, once forbidding myself from looking at the progress and bemoaning it would take foreeever.

Not as much personal non-natural optimism with the second sleeve however. A few little rows from the final stitch I decided to compare sleeves. Ahhh, the sinking feeling of knowing it's wrong. The gauge was vastly looser, the previous arm being completed many months ago. It was stand back at 3 feet and still obviously looser. Arg, I am being force fed this lesson of patience. Ripped and reknit and hey, this really is a quick knit. I'm almost back to the sleeve cap. I was able to try on the body at least and was happy to find the length is perfect.

Posted by Jen at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

The circumnav cardi needed some cosmetic surgery.
The construction calls for a provisional cast on, where you knit up for the folded pockets, then pick up the live CO stitches and work down for the bottom ribbing. The pattern recommends a crochet chain cast on and despite having no ill feelings toward crochet it just hates me. So I tried out the Looped Cast-On. After knitting a few rows after picking up the stitches it became apparent that for me at least, this cast on should've been done on needles about 5x smaller. The row was drastically enlarged and well, looked like crap.
(The start of the ribbing obscures the row a little, but trust me, it was bad in person.)

Surgery commenced. Using a spare needle, I started tightening up a stitch at a time, pulling the excess yarn out. It was oddly gratifying, seeing each little stitch straighten up. You can see the loop of excess yarn in the middle. At the end of the row I loosened the cast on slipknot and pulled out the extra string. I just roughly measured it; I think I removed about 6 feet out of that one row!

The after shot, with the bottom ribbing all complete and now ready to continue upward. The underarms call for a similar treatment. I'll be swatching some different techniques this time.
It was good practice for the upcoming grafting however.

Posted by Jen at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

So, what to do when on vacation and Mr. Pieknits has business stuff obligations (hey they're paying and all) and you've wandered the whole hotel already? Yarn scouting!

I scored, as a shop was having a 35% store wide sale! I managed to limit myself to the 2 balls of Di.ve Teseo for a hat. I really am trying to use up some of my stash. Another shop had a spinning/fiber section as well which is a first for me to experience in person. I picked up the little silk/merino blend to try out on the spindle and a ball of Trekking XXL for some socks for the boy.

Less anyone think we didn't get to experience Vegas, the usual vices ensued once Mr. Pieknits was 'off-duty'.

Posted by Jen at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

The beginnings of my Circumnavigated Cardigan, or the "Cast on and work 1,657 sts" section.

It's the front, back and another front equivalent for the pockets that are worked at the same time all crammed on there. It's a neat trick but does not do much for visual progress.

Tops of the pockets joined! I know, it doesn't look much different, but believe me it feels so much quicker to work now. The next part will be to pick up the provisional cast on and work down for the ribbing, joining the pocket bottoms. It should then start to bare more resemblance to a sweater than a tangled strip of seaweed.

I plan to get some good travel knitting time in starting tomorrow. Where are we going? Vegas baby! Mr. Pieknits is going on business and so I hopped on that opportunity. Now to go pack the knitting bag- what? Isn't that what you pack first?

Posted by Jen at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)